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The Ottawa Senators rebounded with a nice effort tonight, knocking off the Dallas Stars 3-2 on home ice. Sadly, only 8,067 fans took it in, which is only 42% of capacity. Here is hoping when Brady Tkachuk is in the line-up on Thursday night that many more fans show up!
The game got off to a fast start as the Stars scored on their first shot on goal, then Ottawa responded 50 seconds later to tie it up as Nick Paul got his first of the season, less than six minutes into the game.
Chris Tierney scored two PP goals in the second period but still managed to be a minus two on the night. Connor Brown was terrific in all facets of the game, he was noticeable all game long and his hard work rewarded him with 3 assists!
Shane Pinto continued to shine on the Sens second line with Paul and Brown, but his face off work has been a problem in the first 3 games. He really struggled tonight, going 6 for 20 in the dot, which is 30%! Josh Norris was 9 for 19(47%) but it's clear that the two young centers will need to improve in this area as there were long periods in which Ottawa was chasing the puck during the third period when Dallas was pressing to tie the game.
Tim Stutzle was lucky to not be seriously injured when he took a heck of a slash in the second period. The concern was, that was the same arm he had broken a year ago while playing in Germany. Thankfully he returned in the third period.
Defensively it was nice to see DJ Smith allocate the minutes evenly on the blueline. Michael Del Zotto had the least amount of time at 17:08, while Chabot had the most at 23:49. When is the last time Chabot had under 25 minutes of ice time? It really makes the entire defense core more steady when guys aren't physically exhausted, leading to mental mistakes. I can't see DJ changing the blueline for Thursday's game against San Jose.
SENS TICKET GIVEAWAY CONTEST -
I will have a new blog up tomorrow at lunchtime. The deadline to enter to win Sens tickets to the game on Thursday night against San Jose will be Monday at 7PM EST. You will need to post in my blog in the comment section to be able to enter the contest. So if you aren't a registered user at hockeybuzz do it soon. One hint on how the contest will work, it will have to do with Monday and Tuesday's NHL games. Each contest will be different, they won't be the same. I will be giving tickets away to Saturday's 1pm game against the NY Rangers and Monday against the Washington Capitals.
Curious to hear Sens fans' thoughts on tonight's game. Thanks for reading.
Kevin